


What Empty Is

by theauthor2010



Category: Glee
Genre: F/M, Gen, Non Consensual, Rape
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-02-27
Updated: 2011-02-27
Packaged: 2017-10-15 23:58:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 7
Words: 7,955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/166235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theauthor2010/pseuds/theauthor2010
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Mike Chang disappears, Will realizes just how much the whole club depends on him. When he finds out where the dancer has gone, he'll realize that it's  going to take a lot to put him back together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is set after 2x5.

Sectionals were fast approaching and Will hated to admit it but without Mike Chang the glee club was undoubtedly floundering. Now, the kids were all great performers and he could get them into a basic choreography with ease but he was starting to worry about the flow of the group. Mike had always graciously taken the front lines as far as working moves went and the saintly student kept the slower learners in the group catching on fast. Mike's mysterious absence was ruining the dynamic that New Directions relied on.

He had tried other ways to bring that smooth flow back but it wasn't working. Brittany was a skilled dancer but trying to get her to focus long enough to teach the weaker dancers was a hilarious and failure-prone task plan. Santana and Quinn were both good cheerleaders but leaders they were not. Both girls got far too frustrated too fast. Santana had even shoved Finn into that mirror yesterday on purpose, well, possibly. He wasn't sure what he saw.

"Mr. Schuester, I think I speak for everyone here when I say, we have trouble," Rachel piped up. Did the girl ever stop speaking? He loved Rachel dearly but sometimes he lovingly wanted to tell her to shut it. She could go on and on without caring whether or not her audience was jeering at her, or whether they even gave a damn what she had to say. Luckily, he did give a damn, but she was slowly wearing on his nerves. "Our choreography is lacking and the weaker members of the club..." She eyed her own boyfriend but luckily Finn was painfully oblivious. She paused for a moment to recompose herself and then said what everyone was probably thinking, even as they glared at Rachel. "The weaker dancers are struggling without Mike's lunch lessons."

"Rachel there's very little I can do when Mike's very ill."

Will had to admit, he didn't understand the young dancer's ailment. He had been out of school for almost three weeks and showed no sign of returning. Even Tina, his girlfriend, had received no real word from either Mike or his family. She had been trying not to cry at their last rehearsal and eventually admitted to the group that Mike's parents wouldn't let her see him. Why would parents keep their son's girlfriend away and out of the loop? Even if he was deathly ill, Tina at least deserved the information none of them had.

Something didn't sit right with Will at all.

"Well when is he coming back?" Kurt asked smoothly and Will looked over to the spot Tina usually took.

She wasn't there.

"Where's Tina?" he asked the group. He could not believe that he had not noticed one of his own students.

Brittany and Santana looked at each other uncomfortably. "She told Brittany she wasn't coming today," Santana said, touching Brittany's shoulder, probably to keep her from talking.

"Mikey dumped her," Brittany said soft.

"Is she still at school?" he asked.

They shrugged.

Mike dumped Tina. Mike had been out for three weeks. Something was wrong.

"Can you guys run the group number while I check something out?" he asked. He got a general consensus of yes and then went to see Figgins.

If Sue could bend that man to her evil will day in and day out then he could get an answer about a missing student. He was entitled to know. Mike wasn't only a member of the glee club, he was in Will's fifth period Spanish class. As an academic instructor, he had a right to know these things.

"Ah William, you don't look well," the principal declared as he burst into his office. "What on earth could be troubling you so?"

He sat down.

"Figgins, one of my kids has been gone for three weeks," he said. "No explanation of why. Now he's broken up with his girlfriend and my kids are losing their morale and we really need this kid. Frankly, I'm asking if you can help me. Mike Chang..."

"The young man was pulled out by his parents and I am not at the liberty to discuss why."

It was the answer that he expected, honestly. "What am I supposed to do?" he asked.

"Perhaps you should refrain from meddling in the affairs of teens," the principal said. "William, I am a very busy man and you are to be supervising your club at this moment. Do not forget that student organizations must always have a…”

He groaned and got up, ignoring the rest of whatever was being said, stepping out of the office and walking straight into Sue Sylvester.

"Sue, get out of my way," he said, unable to handle her then and there.

"William, why the long face?" she asked. "Has all the product in your hair finally collapsed your facial muscles in? Or is it about that Asian kid?"

He looked up at her. "Sue, do you know something about Mike?" he asked sharply. She did. She knew something.

She crossed her arms. "I know the kid was pulled from the school for severe trauma of some kind. I overheard Figgins chatting it up with our cute little guidance counselor. Weasel it out of her Will.”

Emma. Emma would tell him. He practically walked right past Sue towards the guidance counselor’s office.

“Oh and Merry Christmas for that little tip. I still think you'll fail, miserably, but that was my good deed for the year."

"Thank you Sue." His witty comeback was crushed by the hope of getting some real answers. He rushed to Emma's office without another word, already halfway there before Sue could speak again.

She was looking through a set of files when he knocked. "Oh Will, hi, very busy. Can't talk." She hyperactively busied through the papers in her hand. She was faking it - that much was obvious. "Got far too much to do today."

"Emma I have just one question," he said softly.

She looked up slowly. "What is it Will?"

"One of my glee kids, Mike..."

She shook her head, sharply. "No, no Will I can't - can't tell you anything Principal Figgins told me. Confidentiality and all that okay? I'm so so sorry I know it's hard for one of them to just be gone...but this is my job, sorry."

He reached over and touched her arm. "Emma, he's broken his girlfriend's heart by randomly breaking up with her...Tina's one of our kids too."

She flinched. "Will, Mike's barely talking to his parents or the psychiatrist they assigned him. They pulled him out three weeks ago and it's not in my control anymore...would you stop trying to manipulate me into telling you? I can’t!” She added a soft-spoken, “damn it.”

She had changed so much in the past few months. He looked at her desperately. He could not believe himself, trying to manipulate a woman he loved into betraying her job. He really needed to back off of her and get out of her way before he pissed her off even further.

He turned to walk away.

Emma bit her lip and reached out to grab his arm.

"Will," she said. "Ask...Tina or maybe that Brittany girl to give you his address. Mike...needs a familiar and safe person around. God I shouldn't say this. Go Will...get out.”

He left, confused. When he returned to practice, the kids were singing beautifully.

He pulled Brittany aside. "Hey Brittany," he said quietly. "Do you know where Mike lives?"

"Yes."

He bit his lip. He felt so ridiculously manipulative, using all his possible exploitation strategies on all of the weak links. "Can you tell me?"

She nodded. "I went to his house for dance practice before. It's on Elm, the one with the tiny treehouse."

He smiled. "Thanks," he told the cheerleader as the song finished.

"Brilliant guys."

He had to see Mike. It was worth it.


	2. For revenge?

Brittany's description was surprisingly accurate. Elm Street was a relatively small street not far from McKinley and a house near the end of the street had a slightly worn down treehouse in the front.

He knocked on the door. He felt immense relief when a small Chinese woman answered. "Hello," she said softly. She looked tired, worn down, sickly; yet she had to be Mike’s mother, because could see many similarities between the two of them, despite her condition, immediately. Poor woman looked downright exhausted.

"Hi. Um. I'm William Schuester. I'm one of Mike's teachers. A lot of Mike's friends are very concerned for him and I wanted to see how he was."

She glared at him.

"We told the principal to leave Mike be for now."

"I'm not here on Figgins' behalf," he said. "One of his friends, Brittany pointed me this way...to check on him for glee club."

He was starting to become an expert liar. It wasn’t a comfortable self-realization, discovering just how prone you were to shifting the truth around to your advantage.

A man appeared, Mike's father, he assumed.

"Is he the one who wanted Mike to appear in that god-awful play?" he asked softly, speaking to his wife. His voice lowered but Will heard him. The words were spoken with a venom and hatred that Will could hear but did not understand. "How do you know he didn't do it?"

She mumbled something. He didn't hear her, she was too quiet.

"He wanted him to wear women's clothes! He's the kind of sick pervert who would do something like this to a teenage boy, a child!"

Uncomfortable didn't begin to cover the way Will was beginning to feel. "I'm sorry that the play made you uncomfortable," he said interrupting their conversation that was starting to be spoken more with their eyes than with real words. "It was a lapse of judgment on my part. I'm genuinely just worried for Mike."

Someone coughed.

Mike.

He smiled but it fell fast. Mike looked a mess, even more of a mess than his mother. His eyes were heavy, dark circles lining them. Pale and impossibly thinned out, he looked like he could collapse at any given second. He had never been a fragile kid but right in that moment, he looked close to shattering. He looked more sickly, more devastated than his mother. He was wearing a worn down old t-shirt and jeans, hair slightly messy and he had a general mousy look that Will could not explain.He was crumbling.

"D-don't give Mr. Schuester that look, Ma. It's not h-him. Of course not. I t-trust him."

The look, the stuttering, it was shocking.

"Mike, what happened?" he asked.

The student frowned, the lines on his face more pronounced in that instant. "Mom, Dad, can I talk to him ...alone?"

His mother wavered on that request. "Are you sure that he's not..."

"No," Mike said firmly. "Please."

They left and in a moment he looked up. "Did someone tell you what happened?" Mike asked. “Yeah, F-Figgins told Ms. Pillsbury, she…she m-must’ve.”

Will shook his head. "She didn't tell me. Nobody did."

Mike looked down. Will could hear his foot scraping the floor under the table lightly, in a nervous half-tap. "Out by the football field," he said, a broken, fragmented statement. "The c-coach found me. I ...yeah, that’s… Is Tina okay? I didn't wanna break up with her...Mr. Schue, I didn't but she kept calling and texting."

He was rambling, helplessly.

"Mike, what..." He paused when he realized that even though Mike was rambling, he really needed answers about his girlfriend. He really needed that. His eyes were absolutely desperate to hear about his girlfriend's state of being. "Tina's a tough girl. The girls said she was brokenhearted. She didn't come to practice yesterday but she'll be okay...but she's hurt...what..."

"Someone raped me, ok?" he shouted forcefully. "You think I want Tina to deal with this? She's better off without me, god, she probably wouldn't even want to look at me like this..."

His stomach lurched at the word. Raped. “What…who Mike?”

The teenager looked away, purposefully avoiding his teacher’s eyes. “I’m…I’m not one hundred percent,” he said softly. “H-he used a condom and it took a long time for C-coach and then F-Figgins and Ms. Pillsbury to c-convince me to go to the police. It was too late to find material evidence. I'm never going to prove he did it to me and I need to deal with that..."

“You say you’re not one hundred percent. So you know?”

“I h-have an idea.”

"Mike, the only way you can beat this is if the man who did it goes to jail and can't hurt anyone else."

Mike broke down then. Sobs shook him, rocked his entire body. "Mr. Schue...he...he...he broke me. I can't. I can't breathe. I can't. I just wanna be normal again and I can't..."

There was a long pause before Mike spoke again.

“I didn’t know who he was at first,” he said softly. “He h-he got me from behind and d-didn’t say a word at first. H-his face was covered the whole time.” His stuttering got worse and he hid his face. “He said, ‘he needs you like she needs me. Let’s see if we can convince him. Sometimes we have to put the n-needs…’” Mike choked on his own tears, wiping his eyes. “I’m sorry. Mr. Schuester, I don't want you to feel involved but, I think it was…”

“Carl,” Will said, eyes focused elsewhere. He had heard those words before.

“Sometimes we have to put the needs of others first,” Carl had told him, during their last fight in the faculty lounge after school hours. “She needs me. She’s doing so well. Can’t you see the light in her eyes? This thing that’s hurt her since she was a little girl…it’s getting better…I get that you’re jealous dude but back the hell off before you pay for it. Before something you need is stolen, just like you’re trying to steal me from Em.”

Will had been out of line. He knew it. He had told Emma he loved her again. Emma had, of course, gone back to her boyfriend with what he’d done.

Mike put his head down on the table. “I thought it was him,” he mumbled muffled. “I remembered his voice from a-after h-his audition for Rocky Horror. He t-talked to Tina and I for a little bit. Asked about our relationship and the dancing I do.”

Carl had realized, probably in that moment, what Mike meant to Will and to the glee club.

Then Mike stood up, shouting his words a little. “Oh my god! He d-did it to get revenge on you!”

The guilt caught him in the gut like a bullet. Mike had been raped because of him. It may as well have been him to violate the now desperate, sobbing teenager.

“I’m so sorry..."

Mike would never have an idea just how sorry he was.

"You didn't do this..."

Will tried to compose himself, guilt making him crazy.

"You need to tell," he said soft. "Or he'll go after someone else."

Who else did he need? He needed Rachel, oh god what if he hurt her next? Or Mercedes or Kurt or any of the kids...

They were all vulnerable with that madman on the loose. Mike just happened to be the one who he had taken for granted most and whom Carl had noticed. Carl had broken Mike because Will needed him. A young life had been ruined because he could not sit back and let Emma be with a man who made her happy and more importantly helped her get better.

No, no - mistakes aside, Carl was a rapist and had to pay.

"He did it for r-revenge on you," Mike said again softly, as if it was finally dawning on him. Oh god, it was. "Oh my god...he...you wouldn't back off his girl so he...he...took me. I don't understand. You needed me."

Will shut his eyes but the tears squeezed past anyway. He wasn’t going to sit here and cry in front of his hurt student, not when he had caused this.

"I'm so sorry Mike. He ...saw I needed you and that I took you for granted..."

Mike looked up and he just shattered there. "Why would he be so...petty? Over a g-girl." He leaned up and hugged the boy tight and Mike just launched at him. "I'm...crushed," he said softly. "I can't do anything. I want Tina, Mr. Schue. I want my life back. I don't wanna be broken anymore. I n-need normal."

"I know Mike," he said holding on to the teen and patting his back. Mike let out small helpless sobs. He just held him as tightly as he could.

His student was broken, his life taken - all because he couldn't stay away from Emma. She had needed Carl. He had given her a part of her life back that her OCD was tearing down. He had been loving her so much he crossed a line.

"I'm so sorry Mike," he said, a sob catching him off guard. "I'm so sorry. I didn't know...I didn't know...."


	3. I'm selfish

Emma was obviously startled when he rushed into her office, with his eyes wide and a story to tell. “Will, what’s going on?” she asked, looking something close to disturbed by his presence. He knew that he was going to break her and she would be far more than disturbed by his presence.

He felt horrible for the need to say this to her. He knew it was going to break her heart and tear her apart just as badly as Mike had been ripped to shreds by that monster. Of all the things he had realized with the horrible thing that had happened – Emma had needed and depended on Carl in her life. She needed the things that he did for her and the way that he comforted her through the hardships of her life.

Now, he had to tell the woman that he still undoubtedly loved that her boyfriend was a rapist. He had hurt one of Will’s kids and Will had no choice but to break Emma’s heart this way. He knew now to stay away from Emma and the relationship that gave her happiness but it was a little tool late. He still felt like a bad guy, because rapist or not, Carl had a viciously strong point about his own faults. He had manipulated the woman he loved and he wasn't sure she would be able to believe him now.

“Em,” he said shaking his head. “I did what you said and went to see Mike.”

“Oh, Will, how is he?” Her words were filled with genuine concern and she dropped everything to look at him and focus on Mike. Emma really cared for the kids as much as he did. She loved the kids at McKinley and was devoted to her job. He knew her heart would break now but she would want to take care of Mike and make this better as much as he did. Their combined love for their students would be enough to get them through this.

“Shaken,” he said. “More than I’ve ever seen a kid shaken. What happened to him broke him down and I don't know if he'll ever really be the same. It's horrible, but...but Em, I got him to tell me who did it.”

“Did he go to the police? Oh Will, this is good. We can get whoever did it arrested and Mike can feel so much safer and…”

“It was Carl.”

He had not meant to just blurt it out like that, but it was such a horrible thing to say and it fell out of his lips.

She gaped at him, mouth hanging open, and for a second he thought she was going to be sick. He moved forward to protect her from that.

“I’m so sorry Emma,” he said softly. “I am. I didn’t have any idea until Mike told me. I would have never thought he was that kind of guy, ever. I never believed that. I know he was good to you and all. I’m so sorry Emma, so, so sorry.”

He wasn’t expecting the reaction he got however, when she breathed in and out several times and finally composed herself enough to speak. "You're acting crazy Will and I...don't like it," Emma said firmly. "Mike told me, to my face…he said he was too scared to see or hear his attacker and it wasn't Carl. My boyfriend is not a rapist, Will and I can't believe you would sink so low as to call him one. God damn it, Will, you're manipulating a rape victim to support your warped views of my boyfriend."

"Emma, please" he said. "Mike recognized his voice. He took specific interest in Mike and Tina beforehand. Mike heard his attacker say 'he needs you like she needs me' and I think he really did it for revenge on me, for all I did in the past couple of weeks."

Emma looked like she was going to slap him. He backed up, honestly thinking she would.

"Carl is not a rapist! And for God's sake you're making a teenage boy's rape about you! I don’t love you anymore Will Schuester! I’m with Carl! I love Carl! I can’t believe you’d sink so low as to say something horrible, horrible like that.”

"Ask him Em. I'm ... I know I'm selfish. I'm selfish and pushy and genuinely tried to take you from something good for you but your boyfriend raped Mike!" He was freaked out, understandably but she didn't believe him. How could she not believe him? It wasn’t about them and their romance anymore. It wasn’t about Carl even. It was about Mike, the kid who was traumatized, broken down by the fact that he was raped by her boyfriend.

“Mike is going to the Lima PD this afternoon,” he said finally, trying not to freak out. “Emma, I’d really appreciate it if you stayed away from Carl until he’s arrested. I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to you.”

“Mike is…going to the police department?” she asked softly. Emma shook her head, tears falling freely in an instant. “This is madness, this can’t be happening…Will…”

He reached out to comfort her.

She ran out the door.


	4. Testifying

Will was devastated. Emma had run off when he told her about Carl and what could he reallydo if that man hurt her next? It made him physically ill that he had been with her all this time, protecting her from Carl when he had the capacity to do what he did to Mike. He could have hurt her, and that was not acceptable. Of course, there was nothing acceptable about what Mike had gone through. There was nothing acceptable about what was going on in their world. A man had raped a child and a woman had been living with a potential rapist for months, trusting him in the most intimate possible manner.

Mike had agreed to come back to school, if Will would supervise them while he talked to Tina, told her what he went through. Will did not think that he was fit to do anything at that point, but of course he agreed.

“She needs to know the truth,” he had told his student, when asked what he should do and how much he should tell his girlfriend. It was the best advice he could give. He was always trying to give the kids that meant the world to him the best advice possible, but that was all he could come up with for this instance. Honestly, openness, a return towards the normal that would probably never be achieved but could be hoped for some day.

Mike had nodded. “Can I talk to her in your room maybe?” he asked softly. “I don’t even know how to do this and I can’t be alone.”

So he had agreed to supervise them even though he did not feel capable of doing so. Mike and Tina sat at the opposite side of his otherwise empty Spanish classroom, sitting on the floor. Mike had his head just inches away from his girlfriend’s ear and was talking to her in quiet, hushed tones. He focused on a stack of papers, ungraded since this crisis began. He looked from the papers, back up to Mike and Tina.

Tina let out a gasp that he couldn't help hear. He looked away, afraid he wasn't giving them enough privacy. He busied his way through the papers, only catching a quick glimpse of Tina crying and touching Mike's cheek and Mike crying too, face screwed up tight to hide emotion. He was trying to keep himself calm, but he was breaking down. He then looked away, back down. The Spanish writing didn’t make any sense.

He tried to keep himself impartial and distanced from the goings on, though Mike had begged him to be there.

"I love you Mike!" Tina yelled and that made him look up a little. The girl was practically clinging to the boy's side and Will knew they'd be okay. Tina had never been that loud, not in all the time that he knew her. "I love you Mike Chang and don't you dare suggest that I would ever abandon you."

This was a long road; the path to filling the emptiness wouldn't be an easy one for any of them. Yet, they were all strong.

He shoved the stack of papers aside as Tina kissed Mike insistently. "It doesn't matter," she said, catching her teacher's eye over Mike's shoulder. "I love you."

A buzz startled him out of his smiling at Tina. His cell. A voicemail. How had he not heard the sound? Emma. He checked the voicemail.

"H-hi Will. It's me. It was Carl. I confronted him and he kept evading it like before. So I looked for proof. I found it. Oh my god Will, I'm so sorry. I called him out and he confessed. The cops came. Tell... Tell Mike he's been arrested. He needs to come testify again...I'm so sorry Will."

Relief flooded him. “Give me a minute Em,” he mumbled, though he wasn’t talking to her. He just watched the teenagers, they’d be okay. They needed a moment.

 

Testifying against Carl Howell was the hardest thing Mike had ever done in his life. He had tried to keep his composure but the moment he heard the man talk he had lost it. If there was any doubt in his mind that the dentist was the one to rape him, it vanished the moment he spoke. Mrs. Pillsbury assured him quietly through her own tears, poor woman, that he'd already confessed to her so it wouldn't be too difficult.

"It's all Schuester's fault," the man had said and the recognition had burned through Mike. "He didn't know no meant no."

Mike didn't look him in the eyes, just tried to keep his cool as he told the police officer at his side, "he did it. I w-would know h-his voice anywhere." Mike sighed and was ushered out.

He sat down outside of the holding room, legs giving out. The officer knelt down at his side. "Can you manage talking to me in my office?" he asked gently. "I'm sorry that you're going through so much but we need to take your testimony to convict." It was cold, detached protocol but Mike just wanted to get it over with.


	5. Chapter 5

He stood up.

He was ushered into an office with only a thin partition to keep the sound outside. He sighed. It wasn't like anything was private or sacred anymore. Everyone in the world could know what happened to him. Who really had the energy to care about such things?

"Where were you when he attacked you Mike?" the officer asked calmly.

"I was by the bleachers at my school..."

He could see the image clearly in his head. He had just been heading home. Tina was helping her parents with something and there was no glee rehearsal so he had just decided he was going home to get some much needed rest. He had cut across the field, not paying much mind to anything. It was a route he had cut through so many times, with nothing like this ever happening to him. He had been completely at ease with the world around him. How could he be so stupid? How could he be so assured that nothing was going to happen to him?

A big hand pressed against his shoulder blades, holding him down. Mike was strong, flexible but he was pushed down to the ground before he could react, something sharp held against his stomach. "Don't move," said a gruff voice but he hadn't figured it out then, not yet.

The sharp point of something dug into his side.

He had stopped struggling, his mind frozen with fear. There were a million ways he could have reacted but he went still and froze completely.

"H-he came up from b-behind me and told me not to move. I couldn't tell who he was by then. S-something was pushing into my side. Like a knife."

He had his eyes closed half the time, his pants being shoved down and all he remembered before it happened was the horrible realization that this mysterious attacker was going to rape him. It sent cold shudders down his chest even remembering that icy realization.

"He shoved d-down my pants and I knew he was going...to."

Mike groaned, rolled his eyes and leaned back. He felt like crying again. He was so goddamned tired of crying. He had never been the type to cry and now the water works kept starting up. He inhaled deeply but it didn't help. The police officer got up and handed him a tissue and a paper cup of water. He took both. He was a seventeen year old guy and wasn't supposed to cry like this. Crying like this was not allowed.

It had been a blur of pain as the man shoved into him. He had never been so paralyzed; he could not move an inch and there was just no hope. He had cried and tried to scream but a hand circled his mouth and held tight as he was just torn apart.

"Covered my mouth and ...did it," he whispered, sure the Lima PD didn't need graphic descriptions of his rape. "I..was...couldn't move."

"How'd you realize who it was, if you didn't see him..."

Mike shut his eyes and downed the rest of the water.

"He started talking while he was doing it..."

The words had been so gruff in his ear. They had been desperate, like he was trying to convince himself that he was doing the right thing for his girlfriend’s honor. “He needs you like she needs me.”

"I know it was h-him because...he had auditioned for a g-glee club play we did. He spent a lot of time after talking to me and my girlfriend Tina."

"What do the things he said mean?"

Mike closed his eyes tighter. "My glee club t-teacher. He kept m-making moves on his girlfriend."

"I see."

Mike knew that Ms. Pillsbury, Mr. Schuester would be interviewed. He couldn't bring himself to care.

"Thank you Mike. Do you have a ride home you can call? Your guidance counselor and teacher will both be rather busy today."

He nodded. He was offered a phone. He was about to dial his parents but instead dialed Tina.

"T, hey," he said when she picked up.

"Mike, hi. Are you ok?"

He felt bad that every time they spoke she asked that. "Yeah. Do you have your mom's car today?"

"I can get it."

"Can you pick me up at the police department?" he asked. He needed her pretty badly.

"Of course," she said and he could sense the excitement in her voice. He had missed her badly and she had missed him too.

"I love you, see you soon."

He thanked the officer and went to wait for her outside.


	6. A different side of innocence.

The car ride had been painful and Mike was glad to be sitting in Tina’s room with her, in relative peace and quiet. Mike couldn’t count how many times that he had been to Tina’s house, but this time sitting in her bedroom (with the door opened, of course), he just felt different. She held his hand in hers and looked at him with big concerned eyes. “Was it really bad?” she asked softly. It was such an innocent question, like all of a sudden he was on a different side of innocence than his girlfriend.

“I don’t know how to describe it,” he said gently. “I told them everything. He’s pretty much confessed to it, so they’re going to convict him. It’s a miracle that he opened his mouth and said it…it’s like he’s messed in the head Tina. He’s…”

“Obviously he’s messed in the head,” she said, practically yelling it but then stopping herself. She was really struggling and he felt guilty. “Sorry Mike, it’s just…” She brushed his cheek with her fingers. “When I think about all you’ve been going through it makes me sick. This guy should pay in every way possible. I can’t believe I let him get close to us."

“I can’t believe I let him get close to us,” Mike repeated, honestly.

“Are you…going to come back to school?” she asked softly. “You must be so behind and…”

He nodded. He needed to get back to good, back to feeling normal and like he had some kind of control over his life. “I’m coming back,” he said nodding. “I’m kind of scared to, but I’m going to. Mom and Dad pulled me out of the school but Mr. Schue promised me that he was going to get that taken care of. I’ll catch up.”

“I’ll help you,” she promised quickly. “I’ll help you with anything.”

“I know,” he said leaning close and kissing her quickly. It was a quick, tentative thing. He wanted to make sure he was okay enough to do that. He didn’t want to push too hard or do anything that would freak himself out. He didn’t want to freak out in front of her. Okay, kissing, softly at least was fine. She seemed happy to be kissed too and Mike was all about making Tina as happy as he could. It was very important.

“Why’d you call me?” she asked. “Your mom would have come … or…yeah.”

He shrugged and hugged her close. “I just missed you. Not having you for all these weeks, pushing you away – it was a gut reaction but the stupidest thing I ever did. I totally love you Tina.” It was true. He knew that people would criticize him for being so deeply in love with his high school girlfriend but he didn’t care. He loved her and needed her so much right now.

She smiled at him.

“I missed you too. Mike when I thought I was going to lose you forever…it freaked me out so badly. I had no idea what to do.”

He hugged her tight again. It just felt so good, her smaller body against his. “Do you wanna do something?” he asked. “At least watch a movie or something.”

She nodded and moved to the television. “Sure, what do you wanna watch?”

Mike smiled a little bit as he thought of a playful argument they had a few weeks before the incident. “You know how I used to make fun of you for all those cheesy movies we watched?”

“Yeah.”

“Pick something cheesy, please.” He needed peace and quiet and the girl that he was absolutely head over heels in love with. He didn’t want to think about Carl Howell. He didn’t want to think about poor Mr. Schuester and Ms. Pillsbury being caught in this web of awfulness and did not want to think about the challenges that were to come. He just wanted to watch a movie with his awesome girlfriend, something cheesy and mindless.

-

Emma launching herself into his arms would have been the stuff of fantasies before, but Will gently pulled away from her after a second, still patting her arm comfortingly. She was sobbing, tears streaking her pale and now blotched cheeks and shaking in his now loose grasp. "Em," he mumbled. "I'm here, I'm here, it's okay." They had both been caught in the legal web of what was going on for hours and she looked exhausted and shaken. He could not imagine what she was going through. Where Will never had, she had trusted her boyfriend. She had put her heart and feelings into his hands, and he had made her a better person. All of a sudden, he had snapped and all that made her strong was just ripped away from her. Though it was Carl's sick and deranged mind that had led to Mike's rape, he couldn't help but feel guilty.

If he had backed off, let Emma live in peace, then Carl would never have snapped. He might have never reached that breaking point and Mike Chang would not be the one suffering for his insanity.

"He said it out loud, like he was proud of it!" she wailed. "He kept going on and on about you, like the teenage boy he raped didn't even matter! Like he was a thing that he had taken away from you for getting out of line! Like Mike was a thing and that...that...that damaging him beyond repair, so he couldn't return to you was a good thing."

He rubbed her shoulder, pulling her back into his arms. Hugging was okay. Hugging was aloud.

"He's sick, messed up," he mumbled, rocking her back and forth a little bit. "He doesn't understand...somehow what he did. But it doesn't matter. Mike's gonna be okay. He's going to make it out of this in one piece because he has us, our family ok? He has us. Officer Johnson just told me that Mike went home with his girlfriend. He and Tina are tough kids. I hate to admit how much I've overlooked them both but that will never, ever happen again."

She sighed softly. "I don't wanna be alone," she whined softly. "I don't want Carl to be evil."

"I know Em, neither do I," he said and he knew that was true. As much as he loved her, he didn't want the thing that made Emma happy to be so polluted and sickening. He wanted her to be with a safe stable man who loved her and helped her through the hard things. He wanted who Carl had appeared to be, who he could never be.


	7. Chapter 7

Going back to school was difficult. He didn’t feel like the same person and the halls of McKinley High just did not have the same appeal that they had. It seemed like centuries since he had last been at school, when it reality it had only been a little bit over three weeks. Still, finding normal was key and he knew that being at school would help him find just that.

Tina met him the second he got there, grabbing his hand. “Hey you,” she said with a smile that was big enough to make his heart melt. Tina was very happy he was back, that much was obvious in the way that she shined. “Walk with me to first period?” They had different homeroom classes but always did this. Mike would walk Tina to her class and then would reluctantly head over to his own. It was nice that Tina was making sure they did all of the things they did before things had changed.

The looks were hard not to notice. He was sure that nobody knew the full story but he had been gone for three weeks and he was sure the rumors were flying. “Ignore it,” he mumbled when Tina looked a tad on the defensive side of things. “I’m sure there were a lot of crazy rumors flying around about my mysterious disappearance.”

Tina nodded. “Santana was telling Brittany you joined a cult,” she said, remembering a few days before Mike had broken up with her on the phone. She giggled. “Brittany believed her, of course.”

Mike shook his head. “Dang it. Brittany’s a sweetie; guess I gotta convince her I’m not converted to some crazy religion. Though, she may ask me if she can join or something.”

Tina rubbed his shoulder. “Keep tough Mike,” she said as they reached her class.

He went to his, but with none of his usual reluctance. Getting to normal routine was the most important part of this. He wanted to be back to the way that he used to feel.

First period was his conference period, but the only conference Will was having was with Emma. She was sitting in the back of his class room, looking nothing like herself. She was a wreck and it was probably driving her crazy to be so disheveled. “I can’t do a thing to help these kids, I don’t even know why I’m here but I can’t be home alone anyway. It was really starting to become our home and I don’t know what the heck I’m going to do to make it mine again.”

He slowed her down. “Emma, I’ll help you fix your place, do whatever it takes.” He wasn’t really sure what comfort he could be when he felt like he was going insane himself, but Emma needed it. Now he was focusing on her needs, as dark of a thought as that was.

“You’re good to me Will,” she mumbled, shaking her head. “How’s Mike doing?”

“Today’s his first day back,” Will said, and he was very proud of Mike. He knew that he wasn’t half as brave as Mike and could not keep surviving. “I have him next period and I can’t wait to see him really.”

She shook her head. “I really want to apologize to him, is that weird?” she asked. “I know that it’s not my fault but I trusted Carl and let him get close to the kids...because I thought he would be such a nice, good influence on them. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

“He never gave any indication that he was capable of doing what he did to Mike.” A month ago, Will would have been the last person in the world to defend Carl, but he knew that was true. The man had never given any indication of being the sociopath that he was or that he would hurt any of the kids. Will would never let someone near his kids who could bring them harm, but he had trusted Carl despite his personal issues with the man.

“That’s the scariest part,” Emma mumbled, looking at the poster of South America on Will’s wall and focusing there. “He never even gave me any indication of that. He told me that he loved me, and wanted to get married one day and all these big romantic promises and not once did I think he had a breaking point and could become someone so…wrong.”

He sat down in a chair and pulled it up to the desk she was sitting in. “Em, why don’t you do me a huge favor and take my keys, go back to my place and get some sleep? You could really use some rest and you’re going to hurt yourself even more being here. I promise I’ll be home by five.”

She nodded, just as the bell for first period rang. “Okay, Will,” she said grabbing her things.

Students began to flood into the classroom. Emma seemed to be hesitant to leave, as she packed up her things. As Mike walked into the classroom, her expression was hard for Will to read. Mike however, kept up a very strong face and looked straight at her. “Are you okay Miss…” he asked softly, and Will thought that Emma was going to have a mental breakdown then.

Instead she hugged Mike, totally unrestrained for the usually super-restrained compulsive counselor. “I’m so glad you’re back at school Mike,” she said before rushing out of the Spanish classroom.

He looked at his teacher. “Is she doing okay?” he asked softly. It was absolutely touching how much worry came from a student who had been as badly sexually violated as Mike. Will gently touched Mike’s shoulder and nodded, even though he wasn’t sure how to answer.

“She will be,” he said smoothly. “She’s just not going to forget any time soon what he did and how close she let him get.” Students never listened in the precious few minutes before class time, but still he kept his words vague so that nothing was outed to other students.

Mike nodded. “I was thinking about how much worse it is for her…” he admitted.

“But how are you doing?” Will asked, hoping that Mike could just focus on himself, and getting better. He would make sure that things got better for Emma, slowly but surely. “Are you glad to be back?”

Mike nodded again, firmly. “I’m doing well,” he said, trying to convince himself almost as much as he was his teacher. “Tina’s helping me with everything that I missed and just…helping me get back to routine. That’s the most important, getting back to the good stuff, the normal stuff.”

Will agreed, most definitely. “I was thinking of holding a special rehearsal to celebrate your return,” he said, looking at Mike to gauge just how interested he was. “What do you say Mike?”

Mike lit up. He couldn’t help it. “Yes please. I’ll call my mom after school and let her know.”

The second bell rang. Spanish was the last thing on either of their minds but they would try.

Mike was very eager to get to rehearsal after school. The rest of the glee club was equally eager to see him. He got a lot of hugs, especially from the girls. “Wait, where were my hugs when I got back?” Puck asked, teasing lightly.

“Mike’s a sweetheart and was missed,” Santana said, while Brittany clung to Mike particularly tight. “We didn’t really miss you.”

“Break my heart Lopez.”

Mike smiled brightly, happy to hear the banter that meant he was home. “Brittany, you can let me go now,” he said, the blonde cheerleader still wrapped around him.

“Did you drink sheep blood?” she asked, finally letting go of him.

His eyes got wide. Then he remembered what Tina said about the cult. “No,” he said softly.

“San said you were in a…”

“No, no cults for me,” he said happier than he had been in a long time. “Just had some problems that I really needed to take care of. Now I’m back and I really want to dance.”

“Can we show you the new routine?” Rachel asked Mike, eagerly. “We tried our very best but some of our dance skills lack in comparison.” She tried her hardest to avoid glancing at Finn.

“I know she means me,” Finn said, rolling his eyes. “But seriously, we need some help.”

Mike looked at Will from over Rachel’s shoulder. “Let’s see what you guys managed without me.”

He grabbed Brittany’s hand and spun her around while the music started.


End file.
